Make Vancouver fin-free and ban shark fin 無翅溫市

Shark populations around the globe are plummeting at an alarming rate, threatening the stability of our ocean ecosystem mainly for shark fin. Vancouver is the second largest Chinese restaurant industry in North America next to San Francisco. Today, you can help make a difference by supporting legislation to ban shark fins in the City of Vancouver.

Every year, up to 73 million sharks are killed primarily for their fins, a practice that is not only ecologically destructive, but wasteful.

SHARKS ARE IMPORTANT: Sharks are top predators that maintain the health of our ocean ecosystem. With late sexual maturity, long gestation and life spans, they are being killed at rates their populations simply cannot sustain.

A WASTEFUL PRACTICE: On average, sharks' fins make up less than 5 percent of the animals' total body weight. Due to the high value of their fins (a dorsal or a whale shark can sell for 50,000CDN) and low value of their meat, sharks are often finned at sea and the rest of their body is wasted and dumped overboard.

The shark fin trade is driven by the growing demand for shark fin soup – a delicacy popular at middle-to higher-class Chinese banquets like weddings. Many Chinese wedding couples and consumers have already joined the movement and pledged to not consume shark fin. When one-third of open ocean sharks are being threatened with extinction, banning shark fin products would reflect this growing change and help curb shark finning effectively.